Think Again, Miss Swann
by Aeris Ultimavara
Summary: A rewrite of the first film, with Elizabeth and Norrington having a much closer relationship. COMPLETE.
1. Think Again, Miss Swann

**Since there has been some confusion as to the nature of this fic, let me explain it now. It is the story of the first film rewritten to put Norrington into Elizabeth's thoughts more than he was originally. It is not intended to be a completely original story. It is intended solely to put a Norrington-centric spin on the events of the film. I do not claim the characters or dialogue from the film as my own.**

* * *

_"This is where your heart truly lies, then ?"  
"It is."_

But was it? If it was, why hadn't she felt more certain when she said it? She had stood beside Will because she hadn't wanted him and Jack to be killed, but was love honestly a part of the equation? Oh, to be sure, she cared about him a great bit, and thought he was smashingly handsome, but how was she to know if it was love? She'd been taken with Will since the day she met him, but she didn't know how to tell if it had grown into something more. And the look on James's face when he had asked her! She felt guilt pricking at her even now, as she thought of the sadness in his expression, while Will, on the other hand, couldn't have looked more pleased.

James and Will, two men vying for her affections, two men who she had met on the very same day. The day she saw the Black Pearl for the first time. That fateful day when she was ten years old, making the passage from England...

Young Elizabeth Swann was bound for the Caribbean seas. Her father was to be the governor of the newly settled island ofJamaica, and so she and he had boarded the HMS Dauntless, which was to transport all soon-to-be government officials to the island. Her mother had died some years before, and as Elizabeth had no brothers and sisters, it was just her father and herself in her party. However, her father was often busy with his associates, and Elizabeth had to find ways to entertain herself. Most often this entailed sitting and staring at the floor, or reading books, most of which were about her favorite subject - pirates. She would have loved to get into all sorts of trouble exploring the ship, but she was deathly afraid of being caught by the ship's lieutenant - one James Norrington. He was a stern and serious young man, who valued his duty above all else in the world. Elizabeth had never seen him laugh or joke as the other sailors did, and she stayed out of his way as much as possible.

On this particular day, she chose to occupy herself by standing at the Dauntless's bow, trying to see anything interesting through the dense fog it had entered. She wondered if there could be a pirate ship out there right now, and she couldn't even see it. She began to sing a pirate song she had heard once, halfway hoping it would bring a pirate ship near, until she was startled out of her reverie by a hand clapping down on her shoulder. It belonged to a bristly, superstitious sailor named Gibbs. He was always speaking cryptic warnings and frankly, he rather spooked Elizabeth whenever he came near.

"Accursed pirates sail these waters," he told her. "You don't wanna be bringin' 'em down on us, do ya?" Elizabeth squirmed as he drew uncomfortably closer.

"Mister Gibbs, that will do," came a firm voice from behind, causing Gibbs to stand up and step away from her. She breathed a sigh of relief, but caught her breath again when she saw that the voice belonged to Lieutenant Norrington.

"But she was singin' about pirates, sir!" Gibbs protested. The rest of his words were drowned out by Elizabeth's fear of what Norrington's reaction to this would be.

To her surprise, he only said in a bored tone to Gibbs, "Consider them marked. On your way."

Gibbs did as he was told, but not without a last surly remark. "It's frightful bad luck to have a woman aboard, sir. Even a miniature one." Norrington ignored him and turned to Elizabeth.

"Actually, I think it would be rather exciting to meet a pirate," she said, her enthusiasm about the subject getting the better of her fear of him. Amused by her naivete, he smiled. It was the first time Elizabeth had seen him do it.

"Think again, Miss Swann; vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them," he said, coming to stand beside her.

She wondered at the fact that he was talking to her. He had always seemed so inapproachable and aloof - the kind of man who wouldn't like to be bothered with children. Yet here he had saved her from creepy Mister Gibbs, and now he was conversing with her as if she were an adult.

"It is my intention to see that any man who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets exactly what he deserves."

She was at a loss to understand what that was. He looked at her and smiled again. He had a kind smile, even as he spoke the next words. "A short drop and a sudden stop."

Still not understanding, Elizabeth looked back towards the main deck to contemplate. There she saw Mister Gibbs pantomiming someone being hanged. She gasped in fright, and looked to the lieutenant to question if that was what he really meant. But at that momenther father interrupted them, telling Norrington that he didn't think the subject was appropriate for his daughter to hear. Norrington offered his apologies, and left them. Her father followed soon after, and Elizabeth was left by herself again. She turned her gaze back towards the sea, thinking about the new aquaintance she had just made, and hoping that they could become friends. Contrary to what she had previously believed, he was actually quite agreeable, even if he was a bit serious. Besides, he could tell her lots of things about pirates! But her attention was diverted by something floating out on the water. It was a parasol. Strange for something like that to be all the way out here...


	2. A Smart Match

Eight years passed by in the town of Port Royale, where Elizabeth and her father had made their home. The ambitious lieutenant Norrington was stationed there as well. Over the years he and Elizabeth had many more dealings with each other, and did in fact become friends as she had hoped.

Over the years, he worked his way through the naval ranks, and was always the first among his peers to be recommended for promotions. Since that day aboard the Dauntless, he had achieved the rank of captain, and was actively working towards the next level of naval hierarchy.

But through it all, he always found time for his young friend. He escorted her to her first "grown-up" party, and subsequently, became her "default" escort to many parties afterwards, as well as errands and such about town. He often gave her tours of the ships he ran, making sure to explain every detail of how they operated, knowing how interested she was in anything to do with the sea.

Around her, he showed a side of himself with her that he rarely showed to anyone else. Her free-spirited ways complimented his seriousness, and brought out the best parts of his personality. She never quite outgrew the impertinent nature she had as a child, and while Norrington's decorous nature did not change either, Elizabeth at lest could see that there was also great kindness, and gentleness, and understanding in him as well.

People in the town whispered amongst themselves how the captain and the governor's daughter would make a handsome couple someday, but Elizabeth remained blithely unaware of their remarks, being too taken with the blacksmith's apprentice, Will Turner, to think of noticing anyone else.

Until the ceremony celebrating Norrington's elevation to commodore.

That morning, she was greeted by her father presenting her with a stunning outfit he had imported from London. When asked for the reason behind this gift, he initially denied there being one, but did not keep up the deception for long.

"Actually, I, um..." he started, but hesistated.

Elizabeth had a bad feeling about what he was going to say next.

"I had hoped you would wear it to the ceremony."

Careful not to let on that she knew where he was headed, she innocently asked "The ceremony?"

"Captain Norrington's promotion ceremony," he told her.

"I knew it," she said, poking her head out from behind the screen. Her father had been trying to pair her off with James for years, in spite of her protests and obvious fancy for Will.

"Commodore Norrington, as he's about to become," Governor Swann continued. "He fancies you, you know. A fine gentleman, don't you think?"

She did think he was a fine gentleman, but she certainly did not think he fancied her. The captain was a great friend, and she was fond of him, but they didn't see each other in a romantic light. Elizabeth was, however, unable to tell her father any of this, as Stella and Polly were drawing her corset laces rather roughly...

...The ceremony was over, but Elizabeth hadn't really seen it, being too much in pain from her restrictive clothing. The two maids really had drawn her corset up carelessly, for it was much too tight on her. She regretted that she wasn't able to pay proper attention to the honor being bestowed on her friend, so when he approached her, asking for a moment to speak with her, she consented, despite the pain she was in, feeling she at least owed him that much.

She took his arm, but it was the not friendly arm upon which she had leaned so often before. He was strangely stiff and quiet as he led her to the battlement's edge. Upon reaching it, he released her arm and made up for his lack of words by racing into a speech that seemed to be addressed to the ocean, since he would not look at her.

"I, uh, apologize if I seem forward, but I must speak my mind."

She wondered why he was suddenly acting so formal with her. Since when had anything he did ever been forward? Was it not she who was continually trying to joke and play with him?

"This promotion throws into sharp relief that which I have not yet achieved" he continued, but Elizabeth still could not guess what he meant, until he said "A marriage to a fine woman." Now he turned, and faced her for the first time. "You have become a fine woman, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth was horrorstruck. "_Me? A woman that James wants to marry_!" she thought in alarm. She never would have believed that her father was right all along, had she not heard it from her friend's own lips.

"_But I'm not a...fine woman. I'm just little Lizzy. I'm just - we're just..._ " She was having trouble thinking straight. She was reeling from the revelation that James had just made, and her too-tight corset was restricting the airflow to her brain.

"I can't breathe," she croaked, unable to think of anything else to say. Nor could she have said anything else, even if she wanted to. Her vision was suddenly swimming in front of her, and was quickly fading to black...

...She lay in bed with a book in hand, but a mind not focusing on it. How could James do that to her? What was he thinking by suggesting they marry? He had caused her what had probably been the most stressful day she had had since moving to the island, and seemed to think nothing of it. Her sentiment was echoed by the maid Stella, as she said;

"It was a difficult day for you, I'm sure."

Elizabeth inwardly groaned. Did the whole world know that she had been proposed to and been caught so off-guard by it that she fell over a hundred foot wall into the ocean? Well, she wasn't going to let this servant know that, in any case. "I suspected Commodore Norrington would propose," she lied, trying to keep her voice cool, but she didn't sound convincing, even to herself, so she added, "But I wasn't entirely prepared for it."

"Well, I meant you being threatened by that pirate," Stella replied. "Sounds terrifying."

"Oh, yes, terrifying." Elizabeth said quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment. How could she not have thought of that first? Of course people would be more scandalized by a pirate than by a simple proposal!

"But the Commodore proposed. Fancy that. Now, that's a smart match, Miss, if it's not too bold to say."

Elizabeth was about to disagree, but her father's voice from that morning repeated itself in her head.

"A fine gentleman, don't you think?"

Followed by James's "You have become a fine woman, Elizabeth."

He was a fine gentleman, and she a fine woman.

"It is a smart match," she said slowly. For the first time, she was seeing their relationship as others did, and was astonished byt he logic of it. "He's a fine man; he's what any woman should dream of marrying."

"Well, that Will Turner, he's a fine man, too," Stella went on to say.

The mention of that name flustered Elizabeth even more. Having James suddenly thrown into "marital prospect" light was confusing enough, but now to have to compare him with Will, who was always a sensitive subject with her, especially now that his blacksmith position seemed especially lowly when compared to James's - well that was really too much to think about for one night.

"That is too bold," she warned the maid, forgetting in her embarassment and confusion that she usually made no effort to hide her preference for Will.

"Well, begging your pardon, Miss. It was not my place." Estrella curtsied and exited the room, leaving her mistress alone with her rattled feelings. She closed her eyes to shut it all out, and drew her comforter around her to shut out the chill of the fog which crept in through her window shutters...


	3. Vile and Dissolute Creatures

**Ok, so this fic is going to jump around to scenes where I felt Elizabeth could legitimately be thinking about Norrington. In this chapter, we find already aboard the Pearl, and already having discovered the curse on its crew and later skips to after Barbossa knocks her out in the cave on Isla de Muerta.**

* * *

Elizabeth huddled, shivering and alone, in Captain Barbossa's wretched cabin. She gazed forlornly out the window, searching for a dawn that seemed like it would never come. If only it were morning, perhaps her situation would not seem so entirely hopeless. She dared not fall asleep, for fear of what those horrible undead pirates might do to her. 

"Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them," she whispered fiercely to herself, repeating James's words from so long ago - some of the first words he ever said to her. She wished he was there to protect her from these miserable pirates the way he had then protected her from Mr. Gibbs. The memory of the day she discovered him to be a kind and caring person seemed to bring him closer, and make her feel less alone.

In truth, it would have been thrilling to be rescued by the handsome Will, as if he were knight in a fairy tale, and she a distressed damsel, but this night had imposed on her the harsh truths of reality, and thinking realistically, Elizabeth knew that Will had neither the skills nor the means to find her. So it was on James Norrington she had to pin her hopes - steady, solid, dependable James. She knew in her heart that he would never let any harm come to her, and was probably not more than a few hours behind her own dreadful transport. But when the long-tardy sun finally did begin to rise, it brought neither hope nor warmth to the governor's daughter. It's cold, wan rays revealed only that Master Norrington, wherever he was, would be too late to save her. Her doom was now at hand...

...She woke to find a cold hand clamped over her mouth. She opened her eyes and saw the face of her beloved Will half submerged in the water. He motioned for her to follow him, and Elizabeth willingly obeyed. Here at last was a deliverer! And not just any deliverer, but Will! James must have let him come along on the rescue mission. It was more than she could have hoped for. Once they got away, she would be sure to tell him how thankful she was, and as they rowed out towards what appeared to be the Interceptor, her anticipation of the joyful reunion grew. This hope was dashed, however, when she was greeted not by her loved ones, but by the grimy faces of strangers who yet seemed all too familiar to her.

"Not more pirates," she begged.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth," she heard a voice say. She looked, and saw that it belonged to the same Mr. Gibbs who had once menaced her ten year old self. How ironic that she had gotten the very foil of the one person she had hoped to see!

"This is to be my punishment, then," she thought despairingly. Her reward for secretly adoring the piracy that James and her father condemned was to be forever trapped within it, now that she could see how right they had been all along. Oh, she would never doubt them again, if she could only get back to them now.

But her tormented train of thought was about to hit yet another twist in the tracks, as Gibbs barked "Hey boy, where be Jack?"

"Jack?" she asked incredulously. Surely he could not mean...

"Jack Sparrow?"

Was he a part of this too? How came it that the people she least expected to find her - Will, a simple blacksmith, Jack Sparrow, a man she barely knew, and this group of pirates she knew not at all, had been the ones to rescue her, when her father and the commodore, the two men she had relied on all her life, were nowhere to be found? Were they even looking for her at all? Suddenly her fairytale rescue no longer seemed so thrilling as it had the night before...


	4. Shallow on the Draft

**We're skipping now to the sequence where the Pearl is chasing the Interceptor, and they're about to get into the battle.  
Btw, sorry this chapter's so short, but the next one is almost finished, so that will make up for it, I hope.**

* * *

The Interceptor was going at full-sail, yet the Black Pearl was still gaining on them. Elizabeth felt her stomach sink as she heard this news. She didn't know if she could stand the terrible insolence and cruelty of those undead creatures another time, but with the motley crew now incompetently manning the Interceptor, it didn't seem like she would have a choice. Oh, where was James when she needed him? He would know how to get them out of this situation. He would -

"What _would_ he do, exactly?" she asked herself.

She thought of all the times he let her tour his ships, detailing how they worked, of all the times he explained the intricacies of batte tactics. She combed those memories frantically, hoping to remember something she could use. While searching for inspiration, she glanced out over the water, and saw a sight that gave her an answer. She heard a younger version of herself asking James why ships couldn't pull right up on land, and remembered his patient explanation.

"We're shallow on the draft, right?" she asked quickly, looking to the pirates.

"Aye," Anamaria answered.

"Then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" Elizabeth asked, pointing out to where the water was breaking over the sand bars.

Anamaria looked doubtful, but to Elizabeth's surprise, Mr. Gibbs spoke up for her. "We don't have to outrun 'em, long." he said. "Just long enough."

At this, the older woman called out to the crew, "Lighten the ship, stem to stern!"

The crew complied, but as the Pearl put out its oars, it became apparent that Elizabeth's plan would not be enough to save them. Desperately, she again racked her brain for something that James might do.

"Lower the anchor on the right side," she said. Again the pirates looked at her questioningly, but Elizabeth could not see a foundation for their doubts. If this was one of James's plans, it was simply going to work. After all, he hadn't been promoted to Commodore for nothing!

"On the starboard side!" she insisted.

"It certainly has the element of surprise," Will volunteered.

"_Of course it does,_" thought Elizabeth, "_If they knew whose plan it was, maybe they wouldn't be so surprised_."

"You're daft, lady. You both are," Anamaria told them.

"Daft like Jack," Gibbs said, and ran off to order the men to lower the starboard anchor.

"_No_," Elizabeth thought proudly, "_Daft like James_."

The Pearl was drawing closer, but Norrington's lessons were coming easily to Elizabeth now, and she knew exactly what to do, as when she told Anamaria to let go of the wheel.

The ship swung about, and Elizabeth wondered how gratified her old friend would be to know that she was captaining a ship all on her own, going solely on knowledge that he taught her. She watched the Pearl swing the to the port side, her mind rythmically going through the steps that she knew the Commodore would have followed. She waited until the enemy came to point blank range, then commanded in her best James Norrington voice,

"Fire all!"


	5. Do This For Me

**Here's the next chapter. I'm want to get this fic done before the new movie comes out, and it's about 75 percent complete at this point. So expect frequent updates after this. By the way, we're skipping to the scene where Jack and Liz have been picked up off the island by Norrington and the Dauntless.  
**

* * *

The battle had long since been over, and Elizabeth, after a series of unusual and unfortunate events, had finally gotten her wish. At last she was reunited with her father and her friend, but the situation was not as joyous as she had imagined it would be. For her other and dearer friend, Will was not with them. He was captured by Barbossa and set to be sacrificed, and neither James nor her father were willing to do anything to save him.

"The boy's fate is regrettable," her father told her, "but, then, so was his decision to engage in piracy."

"To rescue me. To prevent anything from happening to me," she protested.

At this point, Jack Sparrow spoke up, and Elizabeth inwardly groaned. There was no time for his foolishness in this situation.

"If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion," he said, "the Pearl was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. Think about it."

"_Yes, think about it_," Elizabeth willed. Now she was grateful that Jack had spoken up. Grateful that he was trying to help convince them of her point. She knew he must have some ulterior motive, but at the moment she didn't care. As long as he got them to save Will.

"The Black Pearl. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?" Jack asked directly of Norrington.

"_Please say yes_," Elizabeth silently begged. As long as she had known him, this had been his mission. It was, in fact, one of the first things he had ever said to her.

"I intend to see that any man who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets exactly what he deserves," he had told her. Words she would never forget. But to her shock, Norrington responded with:

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself."

How could he not help her! She almost started to panic, but was able to stop herself and look at the situation rationally. She realized that in James's eyes, he _was_ helping her by taking her home, away from danger. He was always looking after her like that. And now he was willing to give up his dream just to keep her safe. Because he cared about her for than he cared about himself. It was with these feelings for her that she must persuade him to help the man she loved.

But if she were to do what she planned, it would mean she could never be with that man. At this she hesitated, but as Norrington turned to walk away, she knew she had to make up her mind. For if she did not, she would still be separated from Will. If she couldn't be with him either way, she decided it was better to have him alive in the end.

"Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me. As a wedding gift."

He stopped in his tracks, and stared at her in surprise and amazement. In his eyes, she saw all the sadness and longing which he had been feeling for who knew how long, and she had been too naive and stubborn to acknowledge. Seeing his pained face, she felt a stab of regret for being so negligent towards him.

"_He's my best friend_," she thought, "_How could I have not seen it before? I should have listened to what Father was saying all these years, and told him how I felt a long time ago_. "

"Elizabeth, are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?" her father asked, the first person to speak since she had made her request.

"I am," she said, not taking her eyes from James's. They which had before been disbelieving now seemed warm and caring. As she looked into them, some small bit of her apprehension began to leave her. It wouldn't be so bad, really - marrying him. He was a good friend, and even though he wasn't Will, he was an honorable man, and a smart one. He could provide her with security, and she knew he would never treat her as anything less than a queen. She might not have loved him romantically, but she did, at least, love him for these admirable qualities.

From somewhere in the background, Jack's voice floated to her as through a haze. "A wedding," he said, and she heard something about "drinks all around." But she could not look away from the commodore, until both he and she realized that everyone was staring at him, waiting for instruction. Elizabeth dropped her gaze, and Norrington flicked his up to shoot a warning look at Jack.

As she studied the wooden planks at her feet, she heard Jack say "I know. 'Clap him in irons,' right?"

Funny, Elizabeth thought. That's how she normally would have felt about marrying someone she didn't love. But if that someone was James, then at least it wouldn't be so bad.


	6. A Good Decision

**Skipping now to just before Liz is locked in the cabin, and her eventual escape.  
**

* * *

Elizabeth stood at the railing, straining to see the boats which Jack, James, and the soldiers had taken to the island. She wished she could be out there with them, she who had experience with these undead pirates, where none of the soldiers did. Even James didn't know how to deal with them like she did.

Elizabeth smiled at that. It was always he who had the fighting experience, and he who explained it all to her, but this time she knew more about their enemies than he did. If only she could be with him to tell him. Then it struck her, and she gasped in alarm: She hadn't told him about the curse! What was she going to do? She looked to the island desperately, and saw one of the boats heading back towards the Dauntless. She sighed in relief, thinking that if James and the men were coming back, she would have a chance to warn them before it was too late.

But as the skiff drew nearer, she saw that there was only one man in it, and it was that lieutenant, Gillette. Elizabeth didn't know what he was doing, coming back alone, but she didn't much care. Whatever his reason, Elizabeth was happy that he had come. Now she could inform him of the danger ahead, and he could inform James.

Several sailors came running then to hoist the dinghy and its passenger to the deck. Gillette stepped out, and headed straight for Elizabeth, who ran to meet him halfway.

She opened her mouth to relay her story, but stopped short when he placed a hand on her arm.

"Come on, Miss Swann. It's best you get inside," he said.

"Wait, I have to talk to the commodore. Take me to him," she said, but was surprised to when he started laughing.

"Right," he scoffed. "Take you out there in the midst of a battle when I was ordered to get you to safety."

"But I need to see him," she protested, shaking his hand off.

"Come on, there's no time for this nonsense," he said.

"No!" she shouted.

"You are not going to stay out here, and you're certainly not leaving this ship," Gillette told her, and renewed his grip. He tried to pull her toward's the captain's cabin, but she grabbed onto the railing with her free hand and would not let it go.

"Miss Swann, if you're not going to cooperate, then I shall have to use force on you," he sighed, and motioned for two soldiers to approach them. One pinned her loose arm behind her back while the other bent over to pry her fingers from the railing. Once her hand was loosened, she tried to swing at the man, but her caught her arm easily.

"Take her inside, men." Gillette said.

"No!" Elizabeth yelled again, and tried to dig her heels into the deck. But the soldiers were too strong for her, and she found herself moving against her will.

"It's commodore's orders." Gillette told her. "Sorry, but it's for your own safety."

"Coward!" she cried at him. "The commodore ordered –" Did Gillette always have to do everything he was told, she wondered. Was he too weak-minded to think for himself?

"I have to tell him!" she continued as she was pulled towards the cabin. "The pirates! They're cursed! They cannot be killed!" She knew James was a valiant fighter, but it was impossible for anyone to succeed against an enemy that couldn't die. And the odds were even more impossible if you didn't know you were up against them.

"Don't worry, miss," Gillette smirked as he pushed her inside. "He's already informed of that. A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story." He laughed and shut the doors in her face.

"_He thinks I'm making it up!" _Elizabeth thought in indignation. "_Why don't they ask Jack about it then? He can back up my story_." It was then she realized that he already had. He had probably played up his addle-brained drunk act while telling them of the curse, to make sure they wouldn't believe him.

"This is Jack Sparrow 's doing!" she cried impotently, as she rattled the doorknob in vain.

Here she had actually started to like the man, and he was sending her fiance to his doom. She couldn't believe that after everything, he still only cared about his own interests. Of course it would benefit him to have the navy's best commodore dead. Then he could run amok all over the place without anyone to stop him. But didn't he ever think about what his actions would mean to other people? If Jack didn't care whether James died, she did. All her life he had been there beside her, and she couldn't imagine what she would do without him. She simply couldn't stand by and let this happen to him.

She scanned the room for something that would help her escape, and couldn't believe her luck when she saw a fully made-up bed next to an open window. Her luck got even better when she stuck her head out and saw a dinghy secured directly underneath her. Immediately, she ran to the bed, stripped it of its sheets, and began knotting them together.

A few minutes later, she heard her father's voice calling her name, and froze. What would she do if he were to open the door and see her? But to her relief, he was content to merely talk to her through the door.

"Elizabeth," he said, while she tied the end of the makeshift rope around her. "I just want you to know I believe you made a very good decision today."

He was talking about accepting the commodore's proposal, and while that was all well and good, there would be no commodore for her to marry if she stayed in that room to listen to her father. As she climbed out the window, she heard him continue, saying:

"Even a good decision if made for the wrong reasons can be a wrong decision."

"_Yes, just like it would be a wrong decison to stay in this room a second longer_," Elizabeth thought, and rappelled down to the waiting boat. Once there, she loosened the cords which fastened it, and lowered it down into the water with a splash. Lifting the sheet rope off and over her head, she proceeded to pick up the oars and begin rowing furiously.

She didn't have much time, but she might have just enough. The pirates wouldn't be out of the caves for at least a little while, since they had to finish their blood ritual. Blood ritual! With Will as the sacrifice! How could she have forgotten about Will? Elizabeth berated herself for forgetting about something so important, and turned her skiff in the direction of the Black Pearl. If she was going to take on those pirates, save Will, and warn James in time, she was going to need some help.


	7. Where Your Heart Truly Lies

**Now we cut to the final scene where Will helps Jack escape execution, and later in the chapter we cut to a scene that wasn't in the film, where Liz sits at her bedroom window reflecting on the events of that escape scene.  
**

* * *

"I should have told you every day since the moment I met you. I love you."

Those were the words Elizabeth had been waiting to hear for the last eight years. Now that she was finally hearing them, she didn't know what to do. She felt as if she were in a dream, the kind where something isn't right, but you can't exactly put your finger on what it is. Her stomach was twisting itself in such knots that she thought she might be sick. Odd, that nausea was the feeling which would come to her when Will professed his love. She had expected it to be more of a happy, heart-fluttering experience. But there wasn't time to think of all that right now. Will had turned, was pushing his way through the crowd, and was going to attempt a rescue!

Elizabeth knew James would be sure to stop him, and that she had to distract him somehow. But upholding the law was James's chief interest, and it would take something tremendous to keep him from noticing that Will was breaking it right about now. The only thing she could think of that he loved more than duty was - herself. If something were to happen to her, she knew he would drop everything else just to wait on her. She thought of the time she fell over the wall after he proposed, and how she had later been told that he was about to dive down the hundred feet after her. Then she knew what she could do.

"I can't breathe," she said, and let herself fall backwards. She watched in satisfaction as her father and the commodore turned to her instantly. It was a nice feeling, knowing that she was the most important thing in his world. But she could only afford this a passing thought, as gasps were coming from the crowd, telling her that Jack's fate had been sealed one way or the other. So afraid for his fate was she that she sat bolt upright, desperate to see what had happened. She had come to appreciate him a little more after the events of the battle at Isla de Muerta.

And she saw, with joy, that he was alive. But now that her ruse was dropped, James's attention was back on him and Will. He began shouting orders to his soldiers to apprehend them, and Elizabeth knew that he would not let them get away with this. As she watched the men fighting, she felt oddly conflicted. She didn't know what she would do if Jack and Will were to die, but neither did she want to see James suffer so public a defeat. He would be embarrassed if he were outdone by two common pirates. But she didn't have to worry much longer, as Norrington had soon cornered them, and stepped forward to address Will.

"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt but not from you."

Here her father started to speak, but she didn't hear what he was saying. She was too busy trying to resolve her mixed feelings. She wanted James to win, but she also wanted the two pirates to live. Well, she concluded, James had his victory, so that part was taken care of. But Jack and Will hadn't yet been assured of their lives. The only way James wouldn't hurt them would be if she were standing in the way. She was the only one who could help them now.

As she directed her conciousness back to the conversation at hand, she heard Norrington say "You forget your place, Turner."

"It's right here," Will said. "Between you and Jack."

"As is mine," Elizabeth said, and again using herself as a buffer between the two men in her life, she stepped forward to join Will, and took his hand in hers. But after years of being forbidden to show any feelings for him, she still felt as if she were doing something wrong.

"This is where your heart truly lies, then?" James asked her, his face again sad and questioning, just like it had been when she first said she would marry him. Elizabeth looked at him in despair. She knew she wanted Will, but she felt awful about what she had done to James. She had given him hope, going so far as to agree to marry him, but then she had yanked it all away.

But she deserved to be with the person she loved, right? So she answered "It is," but still couldn't quite make herself feel certain it was what she wanted to say. Instead, she found herself continuing to focus on the pain she was putting her friend through. What would he say to her now, after she had treated him so cruelly?

He turned his gaze from her to Will, and pulled out his sword. Elizabeth's eyes widened in panic. Surely he wouldn't challenge Will! That wasn't like him at all - steady, quiet, dependable James.

"This is a beautiful sword," he said, holding the weapon out in front of him. "I would expect the man who made it to show the same care in every aspect of his life."

Elizabeth sighed in relief, and Will grinned, understanding that the commodore was giving his blessing to a union between him and Elizabeth...

...Sitting at the window of her room, Elizabeth smiled fondly upon remembering that exchange. It was so like James to do that. To surprise people with his humanity when all they expected was militaristic, unfeeling coldness. He was a fine man and a good friend, and she was sorry to have put him through so much all for the sake of her affection for Will.

"Wait a minute," she thought. "The man I've waited eight years for just told me he loves me. Shouldn't I be ecstatic? Shouldn't he be the center of my every waking thought?"

As she pondered this, she slowly came to see to see that he hadn't been the focus of her thoughts for some time now. Back when the Black Pearl adventure started, when she was kidnapped by the pirates, who had she hoped to come and rescue her? Not Will, but James. Who had she been looking forward to a grand reunion with? Her father and ...James. And even after Will had saved her, she had been miserable that it hadn't been the commodore rescuing her. In the battle between the Interceptor and the Pearl, who had she looked to to see her through? Her thoughts had only been on James, even though Will was right beside her. When she accepted Norrington's proposal, she hadn't felt shackled and trapped like she had expected she would. Instead, she had been almost relieved she was marrying him. And just before the final battle with the pirates, she had been so concerned for Norrington's safety that she had forgotten to even think about Will.

As these scenes flashed through her mind, they illuminated a startling truth. The man she loved _was_ at the center of her thoughts. That was why she had felt so off when Will told her he loved her, and why it had felt so nice when she understood that she was the most important thing in James's world. It was why she felt so wrong when she took Will's hand in hers, and was why she couldn't, with certainty, state that her heart was with Will.

Because it wasn't with Will. It was with James.

Somehow, this realization didn't shock her as much as she thought. Surprised her, yes, but somehow, in the back of her mind, she had always known that she didn't really love Will. She had forced herself to believe that she did, for it seemed only logical to her that spirited young girl would love such a young, wild, handsome man. But she had done some growing up during her Black Pearl experience, and now she could see past the lie she had told herself for so many years, past the fairy-tale conventions of her childhood.

She looked out of her window, and saw the military fort settled on the edge of town. It sat as a barrier between the sea and Port Royale, protecting the town from danger, assisting it in its times of need, always being there when the people needed help or guidance. Just like the Commodore James Norrington had always been there for Elizabeth. He had always been there, as her mentor, her guardian, her teacher, and her friend. And now she hoped to call him something infinitely more dear.

With this thought, Elizabeth stood up from her seat, and strode towards her bedroom door. There were two people she needed to see, and two conversations she needed to have. One would bring joy, and one would bring pain, but she was determined to get through them both as best as she could. Because she knew now where her heart truly lay, and she knew what she had to do.

_Fin_

So there you have it. Did you like how I incorporated what you said in your reviews into Elizabeth's thought processes? I love when I can do that. Tell me what you think.


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